Kelly Wahlquist is a dynamic and inspiring Catholic speaker whose gift of weaving personal stories and Scripture together with practical advice allows her audience to enter more fully into what Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict have called us into - to be witnesses of our faith and part of the New Evangelization.

REFLECTION ON EVANGELII GAUDIUM 14-18

In this final section of the introduction (para. 14-18), Pope Francis identifies the three audiences/settings of the New Evangelization and the seven themes that shape his vision of our particular chapter in the ongoing story of salvation.

These seven themes, and each of the three audiences/settings, will be explored in more detail as the document unfolds. Even though this section is a “nuts and bolts” summary of what Pope Francis will be proposing in Evangelii Gaudium, it isn’t lacking in material that both challenges us and invites reflection. While I am tempted to explore each of the three audiences here, they will be unwrapped as the document unfolds, so I will focus on the first one, as it gives us plenty to “sip” on for a daily meditation.

Reflection

There’s a real danger of imagining that the Gospel call and the New Evangelization is about “those people out there.” And yet, for Pope Francis, the first setting of the New Evangelization is the local parish and it’s first audience is most of the people reading this series - it’s us! By us, I am presuming you are an “intentional disciple” (1) whose life is marked by “full, active and conscious” participation in the Mass (2) while flourishing in and sharing your particular charisms with the Body of Christ (3). That’s a tall order, I know, but that should be ordinary Christian living.

Even when we are doing all that, we are still the object of the New Evangelization. Conversion is an ongoing process, an organic growth that we have to constantly cultivate and engage. As Pope Benedict remarked a few years ago, if we are not advancing in the spiritual life, we are, by default, regressing. If the Gospel is at it’s heart a relationship with a Person, Jesus Christ, then it naturally has to be engaged daily like a healthy marriage. The central place that relationship is strengthened and nourished is the parish setting where we meet Christ in Word, Sacrament, and in each another. By the way, this was the topic of Pope Francis’s first Sunday of Advent homily for a suburban Roman parish (see http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/christian-life-is-a-path-of-encountering-jesus-preaches-pope/ )

Response

With this in mind, take a few moments today to make a clear-eyed assessment of your engagement with your local parish community. Are you welcoming Christ fully in Word and Sacrament so you are continually growing in the exercise of your gifts and your confidence and joy while sharing the Gospel? Consider some simple changes like arriving at Mass early so you can recollect your heart to receive all the graces the Mass offers. Take a few minutes in Lectio Divina on the scriptural readings of the day “to prime the pump” of your heart for their proclamation and exposition by our clergy (the Pope is counting on our clergy being “animated by the fire of the Spirit, so as to inflame the hearts of the faithful” (para. 15). If you find your mind wandering in the liturgy, establish a “wakeup” word or phrase that draws your heart back into the moments of the Mass. I use very simple ones like “Jesus” or “I love you, Lord help me to love you more.”

Have you discovered and deployed your particular charisms? This is one of the most important ways we can take up Pope Francis’s invitation here to “grow spiritually so that [we] can respond to God’s love even more fully in [our] lives (para.15). If you don’t know what your charisms are, seriously consider discerning, discovering and deploying them. Your particular parish desperately needs them, and you were given them for that community. You owe it to your brothers and sisters to do this. My life was transformed when I discovered and started living in my charisms. A great place to start is www.siena.org

Pope Francis reminds us we must be vigilant and continually open to the Gospel, even as seasoned disciples. The daily prayer that Pope Francis offered in para. 3 is one of my morning renewal prayers now, like Kelly, to also help me be attentive to that. When we do this, we are equipped to faithfully and fruitfully share the Gospel to the other two audiences (the baptized but not evangelized, and those who don’t yet have the gift of faith).

(1) What in the world is an “intentional disciple”? See Sherry Weddell’s Forming Intentional Disciples. This should be on every Catholic bookshelf.

(2) Sacrosanctum Concilium. para. 14.

(3) Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos. 798-801.

Catholic speaker and presenter, Thomas Smith, was a Protestant minister who was received into the Catholic Church in 1996. Bringing a wealth of experience and insight on the Word of God to audiences across the U.S., Thomas is a repeat guest on EWTN and Catholic radio as well as a sought after parish mission and conference speaker. To follow Thomas' insightful blog or contact him visit: Gen215.org

What a blessing to be part of the largest Pentecostal Church in the world, the Catholic Church! What a thrill to rejoice in the coming of the Holy Spirit 2,000 years ago and today to celebrate the liturgy, the great prayer by which the Church, in union with Jesus, raises up to the Father, asking him to renew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit! COME HOLY SPIRIT!

In his homily for the Feast of Pentecost, the Holy Father said, "In the light of this passage from Acts, I would like to reflect on three words linked to the working of the Holy Spirit: newness, harmony and mission."

Pope Francis then went on to encourage us to trust in God with all our hearts and to trust in the newness He will bring into our lives, letting the Holy Spirit lead our souls in every decision. He challenged us to remain in the community of the Church and her teachings to ensure harmony—to live in the Church and with the Church. And he noursihed us for our mission, telling us to not stay closed in on ourselves but rather to let the Holy Spirit open us up to the mission stating it is the Holy Spirit who "impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ!"

The Holy Father concluded his message to the faithful saying, "May each of us, and every group and movement, in the harmony of the Church, cry out to the Father and implore this gift. Today too, as at her origins, the Church, in union with Mary, cries out: “Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love!” Amen.

I'm exhausted! Why do I have to get up to go to Mass? Can somebody PLEASE tell me why?

Yep, and that somebody was Moses in the first reading today. (Deut. 26:4-10) He pretty much said, "Let's remember how God saves. Let's remember God's mercy—and let's be thankful."

Moses shows us that when we DEPEND on God we give Him thanks, we go to Him for forgiveness, we bring our petitions before Him, and we praise Him. Sound familiar? It's the Mass. When we don't DEPEND on God, we turn to power, glory, fame and riches to fill that void. Sound familiar? It's the excuses that cause us to remain "asleep" in our faith.

Moses taught the Israelites and he teaches us today that our need for God flows from our brokenness and our thankfulness .

This Lent, take 5 minutes before Mass to review why you are thankful, to think of what you need forgiveness for and assistance with, and to offer your praise to God.